Border badness, heat-related tragedy and other game wardens tales from a blistering July

Sifting through the weekly reports of cases and incidents worked by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens, it’s hard not to think of a much-repeated quote attributed to Albert Einstein: “Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”

So many of the cases, particularly those involving boating while intoxicated, boating accidents, lost or stranded boaters or blatant violations of fishing or hunting regulations, lend considerable credence to the great theoretical physicist’s words.

In this week’s sampling of recent cases, I’ve included some of those, plus a couple of just plain bizarre incidents. (The guy who drove into the game warden’s driveway and tried to sell him some frozen meat is a classic.)

But also included are some that should give us real pause.

A couple of incidents underscore just how dangerous and “western” things have become along the Rio Grande, where Texas game wardens are often the front line of law enforcement on what has become a very violent and dangerous place.

And as a blistering July burns toward what almost certainly will be a hotter August, a recent incident involving a heat-related death should make all of us think about how dangerous this summer heat can be.

Many of us spend July and August weekends working on our hunting leases, moving stands and feeders, putting in food plots, mowing senderos, repairing and adding on to cabins and such.

It seems like there’s never enough time to get everything done, and we end up working like field hands in a scramble to complete the list of chores in the limited time we have.

In those circumstances, it’s very, very easy to get overheated and underhydrated. Texas’ summer heat can and will kill you. And this is particularly true for those of us “of a certain age” who stubornly refuse to recognize we’re no longer 30 years old and bulletproof.

Take it easy in the heat. Never go anywhere without carrying along plenty of water. Drink it.

This week’s tales:

On July 8, Throckmorton County Game Warden Shea Guinn assisted the Young County Sheriff’s Office in the search for a woman, who had been reported missing.

The woman had been riding an all-terrain vehicle around a deer lease since noon and had not returned by late afternoon.

Her husband searched for several hours before calling Young County.

The ATV was located in thick brush, nowhere near a trail. The woman was not with the ATV.

The search continued into the night and early morning, with four game wardens from nearby counties assisting in the search.

The woman’s body was located around 11 a.m. Saturday morning, approximately a half mile from the ATV.

Heat is suspected to be the likely cause of death.

At approximately 11:05 a.m. on July 9, while on boat patrol on the Rio Grande River, Game Wardens Ira Zuniga, Oscar Jaimez and Harry Rakosky encountered a group of 10 to 15 males gathered on the Mexico side of the riverbank.

Upon the patrol boat’s approach, the group removed a large inflatable raft from the water and hurriedly dragged it up a steep bank.

A few of the group’s members watched the patrol boat from concealment as Game Warden Jaimez searched the U.S. side of the bank for signs of illicit activity.

At approximately 11:30 a.m., a number of the subjects on the Mexican side of the river broke into a run eastward along the river.

Moments later, wardens observed Mexican soldiers in rapid foot pursuit of the men, and observed them capture at least two of the group.

Warden Jaimez re-boarded the patrol boat, and the officers set out to deter any attempts by the group to cross the international boundary.

While on patrol on the Rio Grande River earlier this month, Hidalgo County Game Wardens Ira Zuniga and Will Plumas were listening to some traffic on the Border Patrol channel about a two-vehicle chase in progress near Abrams in Hidalgo County.

With the radio traffic indicating the vehicles were going west, the wardens along with a BP boat headed upriver.

The truck with a narcotics load drove into the river near Penitas.

The vehicle’s occupants were able to get to the Mexico side by use of a raft.

However, with the fast approaching TPWD vessel and a USBP vessel near the scene, the raft crew did not attempt to recover the large dope load.

Numerous floating bundles of drugs were secured and picked up on the U.S. side by a fleet of USBP vehicles.

Wardens on the TPWD vessel provided security to the BP vessel during the pickup.

Another vehicle, a van, did not make it to the river and was intercepted on the levee.

July 18, a man in a white Dodge truck with a freezer in the back drove up to the front of Newton County Game Warden Bradley Smith’s residence

The subject stated he had steaks, chicken, and seafood for sale.

Warden Smith requested to see a copy of retail truck dealer’s license, which the subject did not have.

Not only did the subject not have any type of license to sell aquatic products, but he was also wanted out of California for burglary.

Additionally, the truck he was driving was stolen.

The subject was arrested on several charges.

Tarrant County Game Warden Clint Borchardt and Wise County Game Warden Chris Dowdy teamed up to work Eagle Mountain Lake over the July 4 weekend.

On July 2, Wardens Borchardt and Dowdy responded to a possible drowning call at an Azle swim beach

Several good Samaritans pulled a little girl from the water and performed CPR.

The girl was revived and was transported to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

The wardens also arrested a subject for public intoxication.

The subject, who had decided to swim across the cove without a PFD, was rescued by a Tarrant Regional Water District officer when the officer grabbed the subject’s hand just before he went under.

The next day, wardens Borchardt and Dowdy along with Tarrant Regional Water District officers responded to a two-boat collision.

Upon arrival at the scene, another call for a separate two-boat collision came in.

TRWD officers dealt with the first collision, where both vessels were heavily damaged but, fortunately, involved no life-threatening injuries.

Wardens Borchardt and Dowdy worked the second collision, which involved a Sea Doo boat and cigarette-type boat.

The wardens dealt with injuries, towed in one heavily damaged boat and continued investigation into one operator for boating while intoxicated.

The operator was arrested for BWI and refused to give a sample of blood.

A search warrant was obtained, blood was drawn from the operator and he was then booked into the Tarrant County Jail.

On July 4, wardens Borchardt and Dowdy arrested a man for outstanding warrants and then responded to another boat accident in which one person was reported missing.

Game wardens, TRWD officers and firefighters attempted to locate the victim.

The investigation revealed that a boater had collided with several kayaks that were not displaying proper lights.

The next day, Tarrant County Game Wardens Chelle Mount, David Vannoy, Patricia O’Neal, John Padgett, Lt. Jennifer Kemp and Capt. Neal Bieler joined in on recovery efforts.

The victim was located that afternoon.

Dallas County Game Warden Jamie Sanchez assisted the Dallas Police Department on July 10 with an individual who hit three boats with his Jet Ski on Lake Ray Hubbard in Rockwall County.

Prior to interviewing the operator of the Jet Ski, Warden Sanchez noticed a strong odor of alcohol emitting from this person, and noticed the subject’s bloodshot eyes and inability to keep his balance.

Warden Sanchez conducted a field sobriety test that determined that the subject was intoxicated.

The subject was placed under arrest for BWI. The subject agreed to a breath sample and blew a .150.

Case is pending.

About 11 p.m. on July 10, San Augustine County Game Warden Johnny Jones and Intern Travis Fountain received a call about an overdue boater on Sam Rayburn Lake.

Warden Jones and Intern Fountain started searching for the lost Jet Ski operator and located him about 3:00 a.m. The subject had run out of gas and was stranded on a point approximately seven miles from where he was last seen.

On July 12, Harris County Game Wardens Kelly Newman and John Rao inspected a seafood wholesaler in Houston.

Wardens wrote citations for no finfish import license and no Texas fish invoices for red drum and striped bass.

The wardens also inspected another seafood wholesaler in Houston where they found no violations.

Mason County Game Warden Cody Hatfield and Burnet County Game Warden Brent Whitus contacted a boat on Lake LBJ with 10 occupants on board.

The operator was intoxicated and subsequently arrested for BWI.

On June 19, Travis County Game Warden Christy Vales responded to a local call regarding the sale of red-eared slider turtles at a local flea market.

Warden Vales made contact with a male subject selling several red-eared sliders.

The subject was unable to produce a valid nongame dealers permit or dealer records.

Citations issued; cases pending.

July 20th, Montgomery County Game Wardens Bobby Apple and Brannon Meinkowsky responded to a call about two dead beavers that had been dumped on a driveway.

The caller was unsure who dumped the beavers but had a possible suspect.

The wardens went to the suspect’s home and questioned him about the incident.

The suspect admitted to shooting the beavers, then dumping them. He also admitted to not having a valid hunting license.

When the wardens entered the home to retrieve the rifle used to shoot the animals, they noticed the odor of marijuana and found marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

They also found and seized the skull of a raptor.

While checking around the home, wardens also found the heads of three illegally taken alligators.

In all, nine citations and numerous warnings were issued to three subjects.

Restitution was charged for 4½-, 6½- and 8-foot alligators and three beavers.

All the animals were taken without landowner’s consent and further charges are pending.

On June 28 Travis County Game Warden Christy Vales responded to a local call regarding the possession of live game birds.

Warden Vales made contact with the male subject at his residence and located a large cage containing approximately 40 white-winged doves and two Inca doves.

Warden Vales issued several citations and had the male subject set the birds free.

Cases pending.

On July 16 Val Verde County Game Warden Roger Nicholas and Terrell County Game Warden Kenneth Stannard responded to a call of a black bear that had been hit by a vehicle near Comstock.

Efforts were made to save the juvenile male bear, but game wardens and TPWD biologist ultimately decided that the bear had to be euthanized because of the extent of its injuries.

In the early morning hours of July 19, Matagorda County Game Warden David Janssen was contacted by the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office in reference to an individual they had under arrest for possession of drug paraphernalia.

The original call to the sheriff’s office reported someone shooting from a vehicle on a canal levee, and the responding deputies got the violator to admit to shooting an alligator in a rice canal north of Bay City.

Warden Janssen searched the area for approximately half an hour and located the injured six-foot gator in a nearby rice field.

Additional charges for taking alligator during closed season are pending on the violator.

Fort Bend County Game Warden Barry Eversole responded to a July 18 complaint concerning an individual keeping several large, exotic snakes at a residence in Simonton.

Warden Eversole found 11 exotic constrictors at the location, most being 6 to 7 feet in length, the largest measuring just over 11 feet in length.

Warden Eversole took photos, and with the help of TPWD Biologist Andy Glusenkamp and a herpetologist from the Houston Zoo, identified four of the snakes (including the 11-footer) as Burmese pythons, and one as an African Rock python.

The individual received a warning citation for not having an Exotic Snake Permit, and was given instructions on how to obtain one.

10 Responses

I was wondering if it is illegal to take sheephead with a castnet? If so the game wardens need to head to galveston at the entrance to Apfel park and check the people fishing there on the weekends. The first little bridge where the large lagoon is. Is there a number I can call and report incidents like this?

Joe,
In Texas coastal water, a cast net can be used to take nongame fish, but only for use as bait. In other words, nongame fish taken by castnet can’t be kept for human consumption.
Sheepshead are not listed as a game fish. But they are covered under bag limit (five per day) and a minimum length limit of 15 inches. So I suspect any legal sheepshead would be too big to be used for bait for anything other than major-league sharks.
If you see what you suspect is illegal fishing (or hunting) activity, you can call TPWD’s Operation Game Thief, a 24-hour hotline for reporting poaching and other violations of fish/game regulations. The OGT phone number is 800-792-GAME or 800-792-4263. If you forget the number, it’s on your fishing license.

Is this what it takes to get the Chron to publish sporting articles on any sport other than football, basketball or baseball?

I’d be willing to bet that sport fishing alone brings several times the financial benefit to Texas as any of those “spectating only” sports. Let’s have more outdoor sports coverage – like daily!

I’d love to see more sports reporting of fishing, hunting, boating and racing of all kinds. Football is so boring that a sane person would chew his own leg off to get away from it. Go kart races are a lot more exciting. Let’s have more reporting of participatory sports and less of boring spectator sports.

July 20th, Montgomery County: 9 citations & 3 warnings. That posting say it all. This guy & friends not only have no respect for game/fish laws, they have no respect for drug laws or private property. I still maintain, if someone is hunting or fishing on someone’s property w/o permission, the landowner should be awarded the normal amount for leases in the area. I come from a landowing family. I own rural land. These folks will leave trash on your property, throw out lit tobacco products, build a campfire when the “No Burn” rules are in place. Some steal anything they see and want. They folks are pure and simple SCUM.